Bleach dosage to disinfect tank

[ilaizm]

I am going to disinfect my tank using bleach to recover from an infected tank. I need to also disinfect my canister filer, so I will be leaving my tank full of water, adding bleach and leave my filter running for a period of time. I've read that the recommended bleach dosage is 1:10. My tank is 100G. So do I need 10G of bleach? Please tell me I am calculating something incorrectly?!

thanks!

[Skip]

you could just spray it down with rubbing alcohol and let it air dry.. straight from bottle

i find that ratio alot easier for me

[chaoslite]

I think your ratio is a bit high. I used a gallon of bleach in my 300 gallon breeding system and even that was over kill. I ran it for 24 hours.

Mishka

[strawberryblonde]

Aha, a subject I actually know something about! =)

When it comes to bleach, it's important to understand that bleach doesn't lose its efficacy through dilution. You can use 10 gallons of bleach and get instant sterilization, or you can use 1 gallon and let it run for an hour, or you can use 1 cup and let it run for 24 hours. Results are the same...everything dies.

For a 100 gallon tank, I'd remove the filter media from the canister, drain and refill the tank with cold water, then add 3-4 cups of bleach to the tank, turn on the canister and let it run for a day. You'll know it's working when you stick your nose over the tank and smell that nice bleachy swimming pool smell.

Next day, drain the tank, refill and add Prime or safe. Run it for an hour, then drain and refill again (use cold water, it's cheaper) and dose again with Prime or Safe. Stick your nose over the tank and sniff well. You shouldn't smell any bleach. If you do, rinse it one more time and this time, double the dose of prime on refill.

It takes patience to do it over the course of 2 days, but it's a safe way to be sure that everything, including snails and other crustaceans as well as nasties and parasites, are all dead and washed away.

[Ryan]

Or you could use PP.

But yes, bleach will work. It's just going to be a lot of draining and refilling to make sure you got it all.

[ilaizm]

Aha, a subject I actually know something about! =)

When it comes to bleach, it's important to understand that bleach doesn't lose its efficacy through dilution. You can use 10 gallons of bleach and get instant sterilization, or you can use 1 gallon and let it run for an hour, or you can use 1 cup and let it run for 24 hours. Results are the same...everything dies.

For a 100 gallon tank, I'd remove the filter media from the canister, drain and refill the tank with cold water, then add 3-4 cups of bleach to the tank, turn on the canister and let it run for a day. You'll know it's working when you stick your nose over the tank and smell that nice bleachy swimming pool smell.

Next day, drain the tank, refill and add Prime or safe. Run it for an hour, then drain and refill again (use cold water, it's cheaper) and dose again with Prime or Safe. Stick your nose over the tank and sniff well. You shouldn't smell any bleach. If you do, rinse it one more time and this time, double the dose of prime on refill.

It takes patience to do it over the course of 2 days, but it's a safe way to be sure that everything, including snails and other crustaceans as well as nasties and parasites, are all dead and washed away.

Thank you for the detailed explanation

[ericatdallas]

+1 for prime/safe... or any dechlorinator. I usually neutralize the bleach in the first solution (I buy the stuff in bulk), drain, refill, dechlorinate, drain, refill, dechlorinate and leave it at that. But I usually keep track of how much bleach I use and calculate how much sodium thiosulfate I need then multiply by 4-5x just to make sure.

[a volar]

It will be a nice opportunity to disinfect thing like nets, hoses, cleaning brushes, filters, etc.... (No sponges, they will get useless after that) Just throw them in the tank.